
Hey all sorry I have been absent work has been a little nutty. In my time absent I have still been keeping up with my MMO news. So I thought today we'd do a little comparison shopping.
With two new super hero mmo's in the works one can;t help but compare the two as eventually they will be competing against one another for market share. So I thought I'd fidn out just what makes these two games different. Im my research I found alot fo differences and similaritites, but in the end I focused in on three diffeesnces that I think really seperate the two games from one another. So why don;t we take a look at those.
Powers: Total Customization vs Versatility
One of the biggest differrences with the two games is how they handle their powers. Champions Online has chosen to give the player the ability to completely customize powers deciding on what kind of damage or status effects you wish to tack on to them. DCU has gone with a more versatile route choosing instead of customizing your powers they give you the ability to chnage the nasture of your powers from damage to defense to healing in an effort I think to alleviate role rigidity and make it easier to find groups. Either choice I think is a good one I love the idea of min/maxing and tweaking the heck out of my toon's powers, but I also really like the idea of being to change roles on the fly for party flexability.
Villains: The Nemesis System vs Player Bad Guys
Another area of divergence were the choices made in how the bad guys will be represented. Champions Online is offering us the Nemesis System which allows players to create their own personalized NPC villain to plague your PC hero on their journey through the game. The DCU team has decided to allow players to play as either heroes or villains. I have to admit I am very interested in trying out the Nemesis system to see just how tought my Nemesis cane get, but alos a part of me would love to give Superman some chaep shots.
PvP: Battlegrounds vs Open World PvP
Finally we get to Player vs Player. Champions has chosen PvP battlegrounds where as the DCU is using a mixture of battlegrounds and open world PvP. I understand Cryptics call on the battlegrounds as there are no player villians and battlegrounds just make sense for the more PvE centered game. I am excited about the open world PvP idea that DCU is working on. In DCU as a villian you can choose to take on an open world mission and help some crooks rob a bank for a cut of the take, and as a hero you can try and foil the crime. This actuall sounds like a fun way to introduce PvP to the game. Although I don't put it past Cryptic to do some fun stuff with their battlegrounds as well.
Other areas that I saw divergent paths included graphics and variety of locations, but those semed rather obvious to me. I like the choices that both games are making and both appeal to me in different ways. It is obvious to me that these games will be offering different experiences I wonder if they will be diferent enough to get us to play both at the same time. Needless to say I am lloking forward to playing these games as well as reading feedback from their respective communities.
What are your thoughts on these two games. Feedback is always appreciated below.
Until Next Time
Ivan